PS4 vs. Xbox One: After Gamescom 2015, Can Microsoft Close The Nearly 12 Million Consoles Sold Gap?

Last week Sony announced that it sold 3 million PS4 consoles in Q1 2015, more than double the 1.4 million total Xbox’s sold in the same period. But that was last week – with the announcements and hype coming out of Gamescom 2015 this week Xbox could easily pull ahead (or at least on par) before the end of the year.

On Tuesday Microsoft blew away Gamescom 2015, during its press conference the company announced that “Gears of War” was getting backwards compatibility on Xbox One this fall. But that’s not all, it also surprised fans with “Halo Wars 2,” dropped a release date for Windows 10 for Xbox One and previewed trailers for “Crackdown 3,” “Quantum Break,” “Homefront: The Revolution,” and “Forza 6.” It is also upping the “Halo” eSports pool to $1 million for the “Halo World Championship.”

This is in addition to its E3 2015 announcements with Xbox One Backwards Compatibility, “Fallout 4,” the Elite wireless Xbox One controller, Minecraft Hololens demonstration, “Gears of War 4,” and the “Rare Replay” collection.

While Sony had some great release announcements during E3 2015, it decided to forgo holding its own conference during Gamescom 2015, opting instead to present on October 27 before Paris Games Week kicks off from October 28-November 1. Sony said earlier this year that this is because of the close proximity of E3 and Gamescom. Instead it said that it had organized a good line-up of third-party partners’ content.

During its Q1 2015 earnings report last Thursday, Sony also announced that it has sold 25 million PS4 consoles worldwide, predicting that it will be closer to 39 million by the end of March next year. Microsoft doesn’t disclose the total Xbox One sales, but it is estimated at around 13 million.

It will be interesting to see how the console sales stack up to each other after the holiday season and its slated game releases.

Gamescom 2015 is being held in Cologne, Germany, with the doors opening to the public on August 6 and closing on August 9.